Joyner launches NC history and fictional digital library

GREENVILLE, NC
(Sept. 17, 2004)
—
Antique books from East Carolina University's Joyner Library are now more accessible with the launch of the North Carolina History and Fiction Digital Library.

More than 23,000 pages of selected histories, fictional works and maps related to the 29 eastern North Carolina counties are now online. Digital resources ranging from historical accounts to fictional buccaneer adventures on the crystal coast can be accessed at: http://www.lib.ecu.edu/ncc/historyfiction.

"Combining the study of history and fiction is a successful way to help students learn history and remember important events," said Elizabeth H. Smith, who led the selection of titles and guided the development of the project.

The online materials also provide a path for teachers and students to study local and regional history and to read fictional works set in eastern North Carolina. Novels, such as "Blackbeard the Pirate of Roanoke," give a fictional glimpse at pirates of the region and their encounters with North Carolina residents. The exhibit also includes the Roberts Collection, which contains more than 1,200 works dating back to 1734.

A grant of nearly $50,000 from the North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online Digitization funded the project, which includes full-text searching and almanac-style information about the counties, biographical sketches of authors, abstracts of texts and viewable maps.

Joyner Library at East Carolina University is the largest research library in eastern North Carolina with more than one million bound volumes. In addition to the university's students, faculty and staff, the library serves area residents and researchers around the world. The North Carolina History and Fiction Digital Library is produced and maintained by the Verona Joyner Langford North Carolina Collection in cooperation wi